Page 30 of The Dark Hiss of Magic
Thane and I exchanged glances. I leaned forward to continue eavesdropping, although I kept my head turned away to avoid looking too obvious. I needn’t have worried; neither ofthe musicians paid me any attention and they made no attempt to lower their voices.
‘Where the fuck is he?’ the singer hissed. ‘First the rehearsal yesterday, and now this?’
‘I dunno, man,’ came the rejoinder. ‘He doesn’t usually let us down. And you know that yesterday wasn’t his fault. Maybe he’s not well.’
‘It’s not as if he lives far away – he could stumble out of bed and let us know. And he’s got a phone. He could call the landline here and leave a message.’
The young druid pursed his lips. ‘Maybe he already has.’ He lifted his head and beckoned a waitress. ‘Can you check to see if Knox has called?’
‘I could,’ she answered. ‘But the phone’s not working. We’re waiting on an engineer.’
She’d be waiting a while. If the café was having a magical problem, they could find any number of people who would solve it at a moment’s notice but more mundane technology was a different matter. It was far harder to find someone in Coldstream who could fix a phone line or resolve an electrical fault, and engineers often had to be brought in from outside. That took time – and a lot of money.
Obviously annoyed, the singer hissed, ‘He still owes us money for the last gig. If this is his way of avoiding paying us…’ He bared his teeth. ‘We should never have let him take charge of the accounting.’
I pulled back while the two druids continued to mutter angrily.
‘Do you think something untoward might have happened to Mr Thunderstick?’ Thane whispered.
I grimaced. ‘It’s a likely scenario. We need to find out where he lives and head there as soon as possible.’
‘I doubt those two will tell us, but if he’s in charge of theband’s finances the café might have some invoices lying around with his address on them.’
Thane had read my mind. ‘Time to go snooping,’ I agreed. I nodded surreptitiously towards the closed door markedStaff Only. ‘Shall I create a diversion, or do you want to do it?’
‘You’re better at sneaking than I am.’ He grinned. ‘I’ll take care of it.’
He stood up and started pushing his way through the crowd. ‘I’d like to speak to the manager!’ he declared loudly to the poor waitress who’d been speaking to the Blue Tattoos.
She blinked at him, startled. ‘Is there a problem, sir?’
‘Yes!’ he snapped. ‘I just had a cup of coffee and it was absolutely disgusting! I want to make a formal complaint!’
I was already on my feet and nearing the staffroom door.
‘We have complaint forms…’ she began.
Thane interrupted her. ‘No, I want to speak to the manager. They will be responsible for buying the pathetic excuse for fresh coffee beans that you advertise. I want to go to the top!’ To add emphasis to his complaint, he thumped the counter.
His attitude was far above the waitress’s pay grade. ‘Wait here, sir,’ she said. ‘I’ll fetch the owner.’ She turned and disappeared through the door in front of me.
Customers were staring at Thane, obviously annoyed with him. ‘Fucking werewolves,’ a dryad said. ‘They’re always so loud and obnoxious.’
‘Hey!’ protested a female werewolf wearing the insignia of a pack I didn’t recognise. ‘Not all werewolves!’
‘Tell that to the waitress,’ the dryad snapped.
The female werewolf scowled then got to her feet and strode towards Thane. ‘What are you doing? You’re giving the rest of us a bad name. And there’s nothing wrong with the damned coffee!’
I had the awful sensation that Thane’s attempt at a diversionwas about to descend into a bloody brawl. Fortunately, at that moment the staff door opened again and the waitress and a pretty brown-haired woman, presumably the Pork Pies owner, walked out.
At the same time, the singer of the Blue Tattoos tapped his microphone. ‘I’m sorry, folks,’ he said. ‘But we have to cancel today’s performance.’
A groan rippled through the waiting crowd.
‘We’re short of one member,’ he said, ‘and?—’
I didn’t wait to hear the end of the sentence before I slipped through the door into the staff area.
